Snowpiercer's Iddo Goldberg

Iddo Goldberg Interview

Melissa Sercia: [00:00:00] This is spoiler country and I’m Alyssa searcher today on the show. I’m excited to chat with one of the stars of the hitch of Snowpiercer actor, Edo Goldberg. Welcome to the

[00:00:09] Iddo Goldberg: [00:00:09] show. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:11] Melissa Sercia: [00:00:11] Thanks for being here. How are you

[00:00:12] Iddo Goldberg: [00:00:12] doing today? I’m good and nice to meet you. I’m good.

[00:00:15] Thanks. Yeah, I’m in Vancouver. We’re just about to start shooting season three. My first day is, should be sometime next week. So I’m excited to AP out of quarantine and to be to be, be the onset soon. Yeah, I bet.

[00:00:32] Melissa Sercia: [00:00:32] I’m excited that there, that there is a season three. That’s good. Yeah.

[00:00:35] Yeah. It is good units. Yeah. Let’s dive right in to snow piercer. I am a super fan, but for those who aren’t familiar with this show, tell our listeners just a little bit about, you know, what it’s about and who you play.

[00:00:48]Iddo Goldberg: [00:00:48] Okay. Snowpiercer is set in this kind of post-apocalyptic world where our scientists try to fix the global warming problem.

[00:01:01] And this whole effort backfired on them and the world froze over. There was a few people that. Could see that this was coming and one of them Wilford was adamant this was going to happen. And in that time he built a super train and track around the planet. And this is a story of the lost Ronan’s of humanity and the fate of, I guess, revolving around the planet until the, until the, the ice thaws.

[00:01:34] Yeah.

[00:01:35] Melissa Sercia: [00:01:35] Yeah. It’s an incredible show. You know, the sets are fantastic. The cast is incredible. There’s, there’s so many different nuances and different like sub storylines going on, you know, with the main plot. And what’s interesting is with your character. I feel like we get to see just a little bit about him, you know, every episode, just find out a little bit more about him.

[00:01:56] He’s. You don’t an engineer, he’s in a relationship with Melanie he’s on Wilford shitless for some reason, you know? So what do you think Ben’s motivation is and how did he like kind of end up in this mess?

[00:02:08]Iddo Goldberg: [00:02:08] I think to begin with, you know, Bennet’s motivation. So yeah, so I, I guess I play one of the head engineers or the train, and I’m often driving the train and, you know, for people who Well, I’m not sure how much I can say, but I guess, cause I don’t know at what stage people are coming into the show, but you know, I am, I guess, I guess many years ago we, we, we joined the inhabitants of this of this train seven years after this disaster happened and the train had to leave.

[00:02:44] So it’s kind of been going around the planet. For seven years now. And I guess Ben is, you know, his main motivation was to secure A place for humanity to survive. Not that it was his brain child, and that’s what he came up with, but his, his priorities were, that was his priorities. And it was to kind of.

[00:03:10] Take control from someone else which we’ll find out later in the show. And, and because he, he, he thought this person was, you know, complete psychopath and, you know, wouldn’t be the best option to lead humanity into existence. And and his, I guess, his His partner in crime in that endeavor is Melanie Campbell’s character.

[00:03:35] And, and I think that, you know, she is, you know, she’s probably more at the forefront of this idea and he is someone that is kind of constantly supporting her. And I think throughout that to kind of what romance they have or what, you know, like that, I kind of also believe that some part of it is. Just because they are in this situation and, you know, they may be at the right place at the right time for each other.

[00:04:02]So I think too. Yeah. So I think to answer the right questions to answer your question is, is, is, you know, to keep the wheels of the train turning, you know, to keep, to keep the train moving forward is I think my priority and, and. That kind of should be everybody’s priority because you know, when the train stops, it stops.

[00:04:28] So. Regardless of the suffering and regardless of the moral issues is his kind of standpoint is like technically mechanically. The train needs to keep moving.

[00:04:45] Melissa Sercia: [00:04:45] Yeah. That’s an interesting point. You brought up. Would, you know, these two characters even be romantically involved if not for this situation.

[00:04:52] Right. Be that, or, you know?

[00:04:56] Iddo Goldberg: [00:04:56] Yeah. I think, you know, I don’t know. I, I would pass it a guess. Probably not, but I mean, You could say that about so many relationships, you know, like, would these people be romantically involved if they weren’t in kind of like in the, in that kind of, you know, the vicinity of each other in that sense.

[00:05:19]And I feel like in the, in the process of building this thing and realizing Mr. Wilfred’s vision, they were probably privy to a lot of information. They probably dealt with a lot of challenges together. Ups and downs, and I think they were probably there for each other. And then possibly when the train took off and, and, you know, Melanie, as you know, I guess like, like the front of house or the train, having to keep this kind of a persona B mood and You know, the appearances as if things were, were okay.

[00:06:03] I think maybe Bennett became someone that she could be real with in the first season. And I think that think that in the second season she finds that in a lot of other characters, but when we meet them, that’s possibly a big reason of why they, they, you know, they kind of share that closeness.

[00:06:20] Yeah. And

[00:06:21] Melissa Sercia: [00:06:21] I think we got the sense, you know, right away from your character, that, that he is maybe one of the only people she can trust. You know, everyone else seems to have an ulterior motive, whereas your character is sort of like, this is who I am. These are my cards on the table, you know?

[00:06:37] Iddo Goldberg: [00:06:37] And I, I think that, you know, I think it’s because other people, other characters, ulterior motives are either survivors power.

[00:06:44]And they’re both very human desires you know, one being very instinctual and one being resolve, you know, maybe kind of dealing with the issues and stuff, but, and needing that status. But, but maybe that’s something that. They don’t kind of need from each other. And it’s just, it’s just about No, it’s just about maybe even keeping the mission going.

[00:07:11] Melissa Sercia: [00:07:11] Yeah, absolutely. And many of your scenes are pretty isolated, you know, you’re mostly in the engine room. And then, you know, without giving away too much, there are scenes where eventually you interact with the other passengers, you know, what was that like? Were you like I’m free. I get to come out and actually interact with the other actors.

[00:07:29]Iddo Goldberg: [00:07:29] Yeah, I mean, I mostly It like, it sucks not being involved in all the fighting. So there was a, there was a big, there was a big chunk of time when we would walk around the studios. And especially in the first season, I would always be walking around the studios because the studios are so big and it was so many cars built.

[00:07:49]If there’s only a few cars that kind of actually look different from the outside of the engine, the way the engine is built. I mean, it’s, it’s very, you know, it’s very obvious it’s an engine because of the window and the shape of the window, but a lot of the cars are boxes, you know, from the outside.

[00:08:04] So. I have a big part of the first season. I was just aimlessly walking around, not knowing how to get back or, you know, not knowing how to get out of the structure, but, and then you see there was a big chunk of time where I’d walk past Mickey or divvied. And there were like, everyone was covered in blood and I’m like, Wow, that looks like a lot of fun.

[00:08:27]So yeah, there was that by also kind of feel that there was something nice to have a

[00:08:33] Almost like my office. I feel like that’s something that a lot of, a lot of the costs didn’t have necessarily you know, like obviously like Allison, right there was, she was very much in like first class and, and, you know, being around that kind of, that, that restaurant areas. Must’ve been amazing. I love that.

[00:08:52] I love that set. So cool. Yeah. And it was filled with such amazing characters and by like I loved having my office in a sense, and having knowing where props were and things were there for kind of us to play with and stuff. And it’s just, you know, it’s such a cool set. All kind of modeled on like the Eurostar train.

[00:09:12]It’s huge weighs like six tons and ages bill and Is great. It’s really, it’s, it’s a lot of fun doing that stuff. It’s kind of makes you, it makes your job pretty easy.

[00:09:23] Melissa Sercia: [00:09:23] Yeah, no, it’s incredible to watch. I mean, there’s the steam punk elements, you know, that are in there and it’s futuristic, but kind of old world at the same time.

[00:09:33] And when I was talking to another cast member of yours, Aaron Glennon, and he was talking about all the little details that you can’t even see. Yeah. He’s so great. You can’t even see on. The camera really, but like little notes in the marketplace and things like that. And I’m sure for, for you as an actor that probably really helps you get into character.

[00:09:51]Iddo Goldberg: [00:09:51] Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s fantastic. It’s great. And it helps you get into character and it’s really You know, when we first started working on the show it was such a push to get going and, you know, they were constantly building sets as we were working. And as we, as we started filming and just, you know, art department just, they killed it.

[00:10:12]Really like they were just always, always building share and it was, you know, Yeah. I mean really lucky that we had that we had this incredible crew and still have this incredible crew on the show. It was a real effort to get this train built. You know, it’s a big train. It, it needs to look like a big train and you need to have all of these cars in place.

[00:10:38]But. Then it comes down to these little details. So it’s like, everything’s been thought of it’s a real it’s it’s really cool. Yeah.

[00:10:46] Melissa Sercia: [00:10:46] Now what’s it like filming those scenes when, you know, you’re, you’re driving the train you’re navigating and you know, things are happening. There’s like, you know, something’s going wrong.

[00:10:56] And I know as an actor, you’re looking at a green screen or blue screen whichever, but how do you kind of react to that? How do you prepare yourself to. Pretend, you know, that you’re looking at at this crazy landscape,

[00:11:08] Iddo Goldberg: [00:11:08] you know, it it’s, it’s actually, it’s not as, as straight forward as you would think.

[00:11:13] And because I, I you know, I’m like the train driver in a sense. And I, I deal with all of scientific stuff. So a lot of my, a lot of my dialogue is you know, it’s information and, and it’s kind of, I’m relaying to you know, the characters around me and to the audience, like what’s happening, what’s wrong with the train where the train is going.

[00:11:37]How much time we have left to accomplish stuff. So there is a lot that. Some of the scenes that intensity of the scenes relies on that information. So even though you want to go crazy and do all this stuff, you actually have to be quite still and quiet, calm, and I think ultimately you feel the pressure to kind of do all this stuff to kind of build what’s written, but really, you know, effects that they have.

[00:12:05] You know, they’re on that. They’re doing that stuff for you. You don’t need to do that. You, you actually need to kind of. Keep it together and keep quiet, controlled and and do a lot less than you think. So yeah, it was, that was trial and error for sure.

[00:12:19] Melissa Sercia: [00:12:19] And your character does seem to be pretty calm for most of you know, most of the time.

[00:12:24] I mean, there’s a lot of different characters that are going from one extreme to the other, but your character seems to sort of. Stay in his zone. And do you think that’s because of his engineering background and he’s like this analytical technical person and not as much emotional.

[00:12:40] Iddo Goldberg: [00:12:40] Cause I think that is it’s it’s exactly that you you’ve, you you’ve got it there it’s you know, I can tell someone what’s going on, on a track or where the train is headed and what angle we’re leaning to.

[00:12:54] But, you know, he is, instead of flipping out, he’s doing calculations, how to counter balance that. And so it’s it’s something that he might be feeling a lot of. Anxiety and tension, but I think his, the way he deals with that is doing the calculations to get us out of that mess. So that’s probably why he’s, he’s, he’s as calm as he is.

[00:13:23] He’s definitely a lot calmer than I am in life. I would, if I would have, yeah, I would’ve lost my, my shit if I was here, but he he’s, you know, that’s, that’s maybe why he’s. That’s maybe why he’s one of the train drivers, you know, that’s maybe why he’s one of the head engineers able to apply himself in that way.

[00:13:43] Melissa Sercia: [00:13:43] Yeah. And Y you know, Melanie probably relies on him and trust him so much because she knows he’s not going to flip out on her.

[00:13:50] Iddo Goldberg: [00:13:50] Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[00:13:52] Melissa Sercia: [00:13:52] Well, you know, I watched you know, this week’s episode was quite the episode. And I know we can’t, you know, for, for people listening, if they don’t want to.

[00:14:00] To, you know, if they want to watch the show and they haven’t seen it we won’t go too deep into it. And but you know, it was really intense and there were some really intense scenes between you and Leighton and, and you and Mr. Wolford were you expecting, you know, cause do you guys get the scripts ahead of time or is it a week before?

[00:14:16]

[00:14:16] Iddo Goldberg: [00:14:16] Yeah, you know, they usually, we usually get the scripts. So we film so we get direct has come on and they do two episodes. At once. And sometimes the dark that comes on and does one episode, but it’s usually two. So, you know, you could be shooting, let’s say we’ll talk about episodes. Seven and eight, so that would have been a block.

[00:14:38]And maybe it was it. Yeah. Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s say it’s two episodes, seven and eight, a director would come along and you could be filming an episode from a scene from episode seven and then you could be running to get changed and then filming up. So from episode eight, so you have the, you know, they give you both those scripts ahead of time.

[00:15:01]Sometimes it comes down to the wire and it’s a day or two before, you know, before we. Get to go because, you know, I think there is a strength to kind of riding as to kind of what’s going on. I feel like that’s a really good good way to kind of write, you know, and sometimes we get the scripts like way in advance.

[00:15:21] So it’s it’s it’s kind of like you know, I don’t think it, it, it, it’s not it’s not I, should I say it’s. Sometimes it’s nice to get stuff in the last minute. And sometimes it’s nice to have like ages with the material. So I think that’s just part of, you know, part of working as an actor, you know but mostly our scripts are given to us with enough time and and you get to kind of prep your stuff.

[00:15:47]So. Well to answer your question, God, I went off tangent to answer your question. Yeah, it was frustrating. So, and you know, to know that that’s what was going to happen. And but it was cool too, you know, it was cool to spend time with later and to explain to him a little bit of how things work back of house and And then unfortunately, you know, we had that whole situation with the God module.

[00:16:16] Melissa Sercia: [00:16:16] Yeah. That was a crazy scene. And you know, you you’re all running around and everyone’s yelling. It was very cute. I think it was like one of the most chaotic scenes that I’ve seen your character kind of thrust into the middle of was that I bet that was really fun to shoot though.

[00:16:28] Iddo Goldberg: [00:16:28] Yeah, it is, you know, cause once you, you know, obviously it takes, it takes a while to kind of figure it out.

[00:16:35]Because you know, you can read a scene and kind of make sense of our home, but then when you get to the physical geographical space, you’re like, Oh wait a second. This is not going to work. Or, and then you kind of, everyone has to find it. And then by a certain point it becomes a dance where everyone feels really free and you’re just kind of all going for it.

[00:16:54] And it’s And that’s always a lot of fun. And it’s, it’s fun when everyone’s kind of like in sync and doing their thing together. Yeah, it’s, it’s always fun to be, you know, to be with, you know, with the crew and kind of to to do those scenes as much as. It is to do a scene with, you know, like a couple of people where it’s a bit more intimate and, you know, you’re kind of discovering a bit more about each other.

[00:17:16]But you know, this world is so big and I think it’s really rewarding for the audience when at all the characters are in shock at the same time. I think there’s something really exciting about that.

[00:17:28] Melissa Sercia: [00:17:28] Yeah, it is. It’s fun to see like the different characters interact with each other. Cause we see them separate for so many episodes.

[00:17:35] And then when you see two characters and three come together that have not been in maybe a scene together before, or for awhile, it’s kind of exciting. You’re like, okay, what’s going to happen. You know, how are they going to play off each other?

[00:17:45]Iddo Goldberg: [00:17:45] Yeah. And I, I think that’s, there’s something nice about that.

[00:17:47] You know, there’s something nice about letting that breathe in and kind of. Jumping into these stories every now and then, and not having just one particular character, like be on the screen all the time. I think that’s, that’s a Testament to like good writing and it’s a Testament to you know And like, just kind of like honoring the reality of the fact that there’s just loads of characters.

[00:18:08] Like, let’s see what they’re doing.

[00:18:11] Melissa Sercia: [00:18:11] Yeah. And so you’ve got this season finale coming up here on March 28th to two hours season finale. Is there anything you can kind of hint at? I mean, without obviously not giving any details away, but just what can we expect?

[00:18:25] Iddo Goldberg: [00:18:25] I would normally say yes. But I don’t.

[00:18:32] I feel like there is huge lows and huge highs and it’s like it’s, you know, it’s exciting. And it really builds up, you know to like this kind of crescendo and it’s really Hmm. It’s really actually, I think it’s really, it’s really exciting. And I think people are going to get a real kick out of it and it’s, and it’s Saifai and it’s colorful and it’s And we get to kind of spend some time with everyone, you know, so it’s, it’s, it’s cool.

[00:19:02] I think people are gonna really dig it.

[00:19:04] Melissa Sercia: [00:19:04] Awesome. Yeah. I’m definitely obviously rooting for, you know, Snowpiercer to get out of this one. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

[00:19:12] Iddo Goldberg: [00:19:12] Thanks. I was speaking to someone before and they were saying it’s like a huge, huge, like Wilford following as well. Like people who want to see like crazier side of things take over.

[00:19:27] Yeah.

[00:19:29] Melissa Sercia: [00:19:29] Well, that’s, that’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone one that has that that’s. I mean, I guess, you know, there’s gotta be fans on both sides, right? Right. That’s great. And I’m sure. What is, there’s that theory too, going around about the Willy Wonka theory. Have you seen that?

[00:19:43]Iddo Goldberg: [00:19:43] No.

[00:19:43] Tell

[00:19:44] Melissa Sercia: [00:19:44] me, so if you Google it, so there’s this fan theory that snow piers there is actually sort of like a continuation of Willy Wonka. That Wilford is like Willy Wonka gone mad,

[00:19:57] Iddo Goldberg: [00:19:57] right? I’ll check that out. Yeah.

[00:19:59] Melissa Sercia: [00:19:59] It’s th there’s like a deep dive. You’ll go down a rabbit hole. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on today.

[00:20:07] This has been really fun. Thank you for having me on the show. So, and I look forward to seeing the finale and season three, of course, as well. And for everyone listening, you can watch Snowpiercer Monday nights on T and T, but you can also stream season one on HBO, max, and I’m sure season two will be on there shortly since the finale is coming up soon.

[00:20:29] So yeah. Thank you so much for being here.

[00:20:31] Iddo Goldberg: [00:20:31] Of course. Thank you again for having me. Great fun talking to you. Thank you. Have a good weekend. Thank

[00:20:36] Melissa Sercia: [00:20:36] you. Bye-bye bye.

[00:20:38] Iddo Goldberg: [00:20:38] Bye.